I might have been in fourth or fifth grade... I know I was a stubborn preteen. Mom and dad forced me to put on a Christmas sweater and corduroy pants as we made our way to Christmas Eve worship. Christmas and Easter are the only times some people show up for church, but in my family it was the only time I dressed up. Let's just say I was reluctant to the formality.
My dad made our entire family come forward to light Advent Candles and read scripture in front of the church. I can remember how awkward it felt to stand in front of a crowded sanctuary reading from Luke "behold I give you good news of great joy for all the people." Even then I thought my voice was annoying to hear (I still do). After we lit the candles and read the scripture we assumed our seats on the front row, singing familiar Christmas Carols. I was prepared to zone out, as usual, but then something unexpected happened... something significant... something that still serves a reminder, almost like a snapshot picture on the refrigerator. That night it became to real to me that I was loved by God. I don't know if it was the beautiful poetry of scripture, the faith of the music, or the beauty of the candles in a dark space, but God's eternal love for me became real that Christmas. I've never forgotten that moment. I knew I was loved no matter what by the huge love of God. Oh, I've managed to forgot many times since that I am loved unconditionally - and I've managed to act like it. I've also forgotten I am loved, so I may share love and invite others to be loved. But the memories of God at Christmas 30 years ago still stir my sometimes dormant faith. Even as I type these words, I remember the shadow of the candle bouncing on the brown carpet, and somewhere in that moment God showed up in the heart of a ten or eleven year old. I am not sure if you have any similar memories of God. When my faith goes dry, it is these memories of God that pull me forward to seek the next experience of faith. This Christmas season, I hope you will intentionally seek God in worship - at home and at church. Sometimes you might feel like it is merely doing what we did last week or last year - and the routine might not immediately lead to the sacred celebration. But I want you to know that someone took me- and MADE me- worship that day and it changed my life. I am glad they did. Because God reached into my life, in the same way He is longing to reach into your life this Christmas season. Developing a consistent prayer life can be difficult. Focus does not come easily, and often I find myself praying when it "really matters" and not talking to God daily. When I do I am glad I did because I find myself and my perspective changing and bending towards God - through acknowledging who God is, articulating gratitude for all we have been given, and asking God to step in where I cannot and guide my steps where I can go.
This has been a really difficult week for our larger Chicago-metro area. I prayed a lot this Tuesday night as events in Chicago that 'really mattered' were unfolding. I prayed that God would protect our city. I prayed that God would keep our children safe. I prayed God would comfort the family of Laquan McDonald. And I prayed violence would not create more violence. I prayed for wisdom from city leaders, who, though easy to poke fun at, have much more difficult jobs than we will even imagine. So I prayed for all of the above and much more. Richard Foster said "the hinge of human history is swung by those who pray with passion." I want to be that person. I want us to be a church full of those people. I want us to pray with passion and change the course of human events by faith. I want our first response to tragedy to not be snark, social media rants, or shallow, predictable left and right political 'answers'. I want us to beg God to intervene in ways seen and unseen so that truth and righteousness prevail... full of awareness and gratitude of all we have been given, and full of expectancy of what God does and WHO God is. This Thanksgiving Day, if you get to sit down to eat a feast with family or friends, I want to encourage you to pray with those people closest to you. Tell God what you are grateful for, and yes, bless the meal and pray for those not able to be there. But what if God's people offered focused and humble and honest and authentic prayer to the events of our lives, our families, and our world that will dominate our side conversations once the prayer is done? I believe it could change so much, beginning with ourselves. 1. Call on God. 2. Humble yourselves in truly grateful thanksgiving and honest need. 3. Ask and trust God to heal us and those around us. "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2nd Chronicles 7:14 -Geoff First Sunday of Advent The Christian story is precisely the story of one grand miracle, the Christian assertion being that what is beyond all space and time, what is uncreated, eternal, come into nature, into human nature, descended into His own universe, and rose again, bringing nature up with Him. It is precisely one great miracle. If you take that away there is nothing specifically Christian left. ~ C.S. Lewis, "The Grand Miracle," God in the Dock, pg80. First Monday of Advent The Eternal Being, who knows everything and who created the whole universe, became not only a man but (before that) a baby, and before that a fetus inside a Woman's body. If you want to get the hang of it, think how you would like to become a slug or a crab. ~ C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p179 First Tuesday of Advent He goes down to come up again and bring the whole ruined world up with Him. One has the picture of a strong man stooping lower and lower to get himself underneath some great complicated burden. He must stoop in order to lift, he must almost disappear under the load before he incredibly straightens his back and marches off with the whole mass swaying on his shoulders. ~ C.S. Lewis, Miracles, p148 First Wednesday of Advent Just as every natural event is the manifestation at a particular place and moment of Nature's total character, so every particular Christian miracle manifests at a particular place and moment the character and significance of the Incarnation. ~ C.S. Lewis, Miracles, p143 First Thursday of Advent In this descent and reascent everyone will recognize a familiar pattern: a thing written all over the world. It is the pattern of all vegetable life. It must belittle itself into some thing hard, small and deathlike, it must fall into the ground: thence the new life reascends. It is the pattern of all animal generation too. ~ C.S. Lewis, Miracles, p148 First Friday of Advent The Incarnation was God's 'weak moment': when Omnipotence becomes a baby in a manger has 'weakened' itself.... The temptation...is precisely a temptation to evade the self-imposed weaknesses, to be strong, omnipotent, again - to make stones into bread, to be emperor of the world, to do 'levitations'. The weakness was the strength. ~ C.S. Lewis, Collected Letters III, p 409ff First Saturday of Advent No woman ever conceived a child, no mare a foal, without Him. But once, and for a special purpose, He dispensed with that long line which is His instrument: once His life-giving finger touched a woman without passing through the ages of interlocked events. ~ C.S. Lewis, Miracles, p182 Quest for Peace: Second Sunday of Advent When the year dies in preparation for the birth Of other seasons, not the same, on the same earth, Then saving and calamity go together make The Advent gospel, telling how the heart will break. Therefore it was in Advent that the Quest began... ~ C.S. Lewis, "Launcelot", Narrative Poems, p95 The Gift of Judgement: Second Monday of Advent Judgment is at hand, promise of judgment and threat of judgment.... It is the same sort of ambivalence which Christians have been taught to recognize in the season of Advent. ~ C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams, The Arthurian Torso, p157 God Shatters: Second Tuesday of Advent My idea of God is not a divine idea. It has to be shattered time after time. He shatters it Himself. He is the great iconoclast. Could we not almost say that this shattering is one of the marks of His presence? The Incarnation is the supreme example; it leaves all previous ideas of the Messiah in ruins. And most are "offended" by the iconoclasm; and blessed are those who are not. But the same thing happens in our private prayers. ~ C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed, p78 What We Can Understand: Second Wednesday of Advent We cannot conceive how the Divine Spirit dwelled within the created and human spirit of Jesus.... What we can understand...is that our own...existence is...but a faint image of the Divine Incarnation itself - the same theme in a very minor key. ~ C.S. Lewis, Miracles, p147 Just Like Your Father: Second Thursday of Advent The Son of God became a man to enable men to become the Sons of God. We do not know...how things would have worked if the human race had never rebelled against God and joined the enemy.... You and I are concerned with the way things work now. ~ C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p178 Test of Greatness: Second Friday of Advent [The great French writer] Montaigne became kittenish with his kitten but [it] never talked philosophy to him. Everywhere the great enters the little - its power to do so is almost the test of its greatness. ~ C.S. Lewis, Miracles, p147 Excitement Of A Child: Second Saturday of Advent I have read [your book] Treasure on Earth and I don't believe you have any notion how good it is.... I've never seen the hushed internal excitement of a child on Christmas Eve better done. That is something we can all recognize. ~ C.S. Lewis, from "Letter to Mrs. Phyllis Sandeman", Dec. 10, 1952, Lewis' Collected Letters, III, pp261ff Week Three His Name In This World: Third Sunday of Advent Dear Hida (is that right?) Newman, Thank you so much for your lovely letter and pictures.... As to Aslan's other name, well I want you to guess. Has there never been anyone in the world who (1.) arrived at the same time as Father Christmas. (2.) Said he was the son of the Great Emperor. (3.) Gave himself up for someone else's fault to be jeered at and killed by wicked people. (4.) Came to life again. (5.) Is sometimes spoken of as a Lamb.... Don't you really know His name in this world? Think it over and let me know your answer. ~ C.S. Lewis, from "Letter to Hila Newman," June 3, 1953, Lewis' Collected Letters, III, p.334 To Tell His Story: Third Monday of Advent My brother and I took a day off last week, put sandwiches in our pockets, and tramped sixteen miles..from Dorchester Abbey to Oxford.... You would be surprised if you could see the unspoilt beauty and charm which can still be found.... I hope to send you the autographed children's book by Christmas, but will probably know more about its progress this afternoon, as I am going out to lunch with my publisher. ~ C.S. Lewis, "Letter to Miss Vera Mathews," September 20, 1950, Lewis' Collected Letters, III, p54 Greatness Comes In Smallness: Third Tuesday of Advent "It seems, then", said Tirian..."that the Stable seen from within and the Stable seen from without are two different places." "Yes," said the Lord Digory. "Its inside is bigger than its outside." "Yes," said Queen Lucy. "In our world too, a Stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world." ~ C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle, p141 To Glorify And Enjoy: Third Wednesday of Advent The Scotch catechism says that man's end is 'to glorify God and enjoy Him forever'. But we shall then know that these are the same thing. Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy him. ~ C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms, p97 A Gift To You For Others: Third Thursday of Advent "Hadn't we better take what we want and get out again?" said Edmund. "We must take the Gifts," said Peter. For long ago at a Christmas in Narnia he and Susan and Lucy had been given certain presents which they valued more than their whole kingdom.... They all agreed...and there, sure enough, the gifts were still hanging. Lucy's was the smallest for it was only a little bottle. ~ C.S. Lewis, Prince Caspian, p23 Christmas Shopping: Third Friday of Advent From the waist upwards he was like a man, but his legs were shaped like a goat's.... One of his hands...held an umbrella: in the other arm he carried several brown paper parcels. What with the parcels and the snow it looked just as if he had been doing his Christmas shopping. He was a Faun. And when he saw Lucy he gave such a start of surprise that he dropped all his parcels. ~ C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, p8 Any Point In Going On?: Third Saturday of Advent [The Queen of Narnia] "isn't a real queen at all," answered Lucy. "She is a horrible White Witch.... She has made an enchantment over the whole country so that it is always winter here and never Christmas." "I wonder if there's any point in going on," said Susan.... "What about just going home?" ~ C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, p56 Week Four Jesus Saves: Fourth Sunday of Advent Most of my books are evangelistic, addressed to [those outside the faith]. ~ C.S. Lewis, from "Rejoinder to Dr. Pittenger," God in the Dock, p181 Peace On Earth: Fourth Monday of Advent There! They're at it again. "'Ark, the errol hygel sings".... Boxing Day [December 26] is only two and a half weeks [away]; then perhaps we shall have a little quiet in which to remember the birth of Christ. ~ C.S. Lewis, "Delinquints in the Snow," God in the Dock, p310 Very Many Thanks: Fourth Tuesday of Advent Once more, very many thanks to all your great goodness to me and mine: and with all best wishes for a happy Christmas. ~ C.S. Lewis, from Letter to Dr. Warfield Firor, Nov. 6, 1948, Lewis' Collected Letters, II, p889 Campaign of Sabotage: Fourth Wednesday of Advent Enemy-occupied territory - that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed...and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage. When you go to church you are really listening-in to the secret wireless from our friends: that is why the enemy is so anxious to prevent us from going. ~ C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p46 Bring Religion Into Everything: Fourth Thursday of Advent Just a hurried line...to tell a story which puts the contrast between our feast of the Nativity and all this ghastly "Xmas" racket at its lowest. My brother heard a woman on a bus say, as the bus passed a church with a Crib outside it, "Oh Lor'! They bring religion into everything. Look - they're dragging it even into Christmas now!" ~ C.S. Lewis, Letters to an American Lady, Dec. 29, 1958, p80 Give More Than We Can Spare: Fourth Friday of Advent Charity - giving to the poor - is an essential part of Christian morality.... I do not believe on can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. ~ C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p86 Developed by Anchor Community Church, Ontario, Canada It's almost here!
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday - well, top two for sure. I love the food, the family... and the football. A couple years ago, my family decided they needed to eat healthier. We basically showed up for the meal they had prepared, so we could hardly weigh in and suggest they not make any changes. But suffice to say, we were not as excited about a 'healthy' holiday. Imagine our surprise when dish after dish was rich, savory, and exploding with seasonal flavor. By the time it was over I could hardly believe how delicious it had all been. In fact, I begged them to remember exactly what they had done so it could be replicated the next year! God's heart for us is much the same. His commandments seem like they will curtail our lifestyles. Obedience sounds like it will be hard and taxing. His ways don't sound like our ways because they aren't... they are so much richer, so much deeper, so much more satisfying than our habits. But it takes a leap, or a surrender, to let go of the weaker option we know, and sit at the feast of goodness God is preparing for our lives. As C.S. Lewis wrote : "It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." What an amazing gift this last week is been. When the weather touches the 70s in early November, you have to be grateful. When we look back at how much snow we had already gotten it this point last year and then compare that to walking outside in shorts, it is truly a gift!
But sometimes it's hard to be grateful even with something as fickle as weather. Gratitude is not natural to entitled-inconvenience-driven suburbanites like ourselves. Yes that means you. Yes that means me. When we have the anticipation so much in life will break our way, we miss the good and gracious gifts that God gives - like the leaves in our front yard that brush against our legs in a November day in shorts. Even with goodness all around, gratitude can go forgotten. There is a phrase that I keep repeating to myself when bitterness rises up: "You can thank your way out of any problem." Chances are this week you will have someone or something or some circumstance that disappoints you. And the pain it causes will leach in. Each and everyone of us will be given the choice to sulk or to find a way to be grateful in all circumstances. Which one of those do you think God has asked of you as a follower of Jesus? Make a choice to be grateful. Change your mind and heart and spirit. If you change yourself, everything around you will start to change. A year and a half ago our lives radically changed. We had waited 7 long years to have a baby, and his arrival meant the end of a season of adult life and the start of something totally new. The thing is, I was never a person who sought this particular role of caregiver voluntarily. I did not babysit as a teenager. Truthfully, it has always come difficult to me. So being a parent to a new person, a very NEEDY new person has been hard for my very selfish brain.
There are lots of seasons in our lives that lead us to focus on our deficits. Maybe the commute to your current job is taxing your time and emotional health. Maybe your relationship status makes you long for something different, more peaceful, more rich. Maybe your finances leave you feeling you are falling behind the 8 ball week after week with only uncertainty facing your future. In the Gospels, Jesus is sitting with his disciples watching people give their offerings. In that world, it was a public event, on the way into the temple... imagine us parading our checks before we sat down in church. Jesus is irritated with the display until he sees a widow give a couple of small coins - so small it was a truly inconsequential amount. However, Jesus points her generosity out to his disciples, and the ages, explaining that "...Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” (From Mark 12:43&44) This story is a great illustration of our love and advocacy for tithing. Throughout the scriptures, God invites us to give - not based on a certain sum or dollar amount - AND never to be impressive. Instead, God lovingly invites us to acknowledge all that He has given - our portion - and to offer from that honestly. God serves us each a dollop of resources- just like around the table at a meal. What is your portion? What has God given you? Are you devoted to building God's kingdom from your portion? Jesus lifted up the Widow - not JUST because she gave so generously of her portion. The widow was living the faith that seeks and finds our generous God. In one of his most important teachings, Jesus states that "whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much..." It may sound overly simplistic, but if God is who He says He is, then God met the widow with provision - and God will meet us the same. That full portion widow invested was a statement of outrageous and powerful faith! And her action undoubtably led to God's outpouring of care and faithfulness. Simply put, we all want more. However, God CAN NOT increase our portion - any portion - that is not investing in the Kingdom of God with faith and love. How could God? So if you feel like you have a widow's portion right now, it's okay to acknowledge that honestly. Give faithfully and generously with it and watch and see. God will meet you wherever you are. And if you are faithful with what the portion you have right now, small as it may seem, you will experience God's care and increase and provision. I believe that with all my heart, mind, and spirit. In Christ! -M Everyone is busy.
There are so many things vying for our attention and our precious time. Work, commutes, friends, family, cleaning, workouts, kids' activities... But engaging with God is different. Showing up for a group or a Bible study or a mission opportunity is vasty different than just showing up for a work meeting or to a kids’ sporting event. The things of God have a different character than the things of the world. They are fundamentally different; the activities of God are composed of and directed at altering the spiritual. So faith-activities will affect you differently than secular pursuits. Though both use time, faith-activities will fill you up. They will restore your soul. They will encourage you in the spiritual … while nothing in our society is capable of doing that kind of work - it can only deplete. So the next time you are offered an hour long Bible study or serving opportunity or worship service, don't think of it like you think of secular stuff ... think of it as the opposite. God's work us turning our attention to Him can feed us spiritually and impact our lives in immeasurably positive ways, growing us in Peace... Joy... Less fear... Love... Wisdom... Discernment... Hope. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation. 1 Peter 2:2 We have been misled.
We are doing our best to live our life at a high level. We are doing adult things. We work. We work out. We eat well enough. We earn money and make purchases and pay debts. We try to create memories with our family and friends. But inside something is just wilting, unfed, wasting. The problem is simple. As Walter Miller wrote, "You don’t have a soul,... you are a soul. You have a body, temporarily.” As souls, we are only really in our element in matters spiritual. Spiritual stuff has an entire different character, a different make-up. It is rich and transcendent and fulfilling. It is all about God first and foremost. Day after day, year after year, we are wearing ourselves into nothingness running in the wrong direction, aiming at the wrong target. We are missing the mark. And that, is the definition of sin. (Sin - Greek - hamartia - from archery - meaning to miss the target) Our souls can no more care about our acquisitions and secular lives than my dog can care about the stock market. So give yourself a break from chasing the wrong rabbit. Reroute your life by placing your passion in its rightful place - the Lord. "...So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. " - Jesus in Matthew 6:31-33 It's one of the strongest desires in the heart of people seeking faith, to have a full sense of God's hope for them, their life, and their circumstances.
Fortunately, God's Bible is saturated with the answer! You won't have to look far to be instructed and encouraged in the answer! God 's will for you and me: 1. We seek Him first. 2. We value Him more than any other things... other's opinions, our jobs, our stuff, and our money / the money and stuff we wish we had. 3. We have him at the core of our relationships. Do you pray for your spouse? Do you ask God how to answer your siblings? Do you seek God's wisdom when parenting? Or even just hanging out with friends? Do you pray for God's leading when tensions rise? 4. We share Jesus. God wants us to be ready to share the difference He makes in our lives and encourage others to turn towards Him. This is not as scary as it sounds. Think of a couple ways God is working on your heart. Are you more patient? Does prayer help your stress level? Do you feel different when you worship? A simple God moment and invitation can be easy to have ready when someone shares their life's needs - even if it is in the format of gossip! "Wow, that sounds hard. Would it be okay if I include that in my prayers? I really have felt a new lease / less stress / more peace in my life by pursuing faith. I'd love for you to come to church with me some time, so you can get to know Jesus." 5. We serve. Maybe God has put a cloth in front of you to wipe some tables. Maybe God has brought a homeless person into your daily commute to give away some money and a prayer. Maybe God has planted the seeds of a mission organization for you to create... whatever the immediate manifestation, you can be certain, God WILLS us to serve throughout our days. If we haven't served yet today, look harder! We are agents in God's mission field. 6. We prepare for heaven. God's world is bigger than ours. Our hope of Jesus is our TRUE reality. Our lives will be mostly spent worshipping God on the other side... and only God knows when we will cross over. Are our hearts positioned towards that? It can be really hard to talk about money!
It isn't just the main reason for divorce in our country, it's also one of the main reasons people choose to not follow God! Jesus knew how powerful money's hold on us all has been - from the beginning of time. "Where our money goes, our hearts will follow," he said. There are three simple steps we can all take to grow: 1. Know where it goes. Take your bank statement and look at what is spent and on what. Without emotion, just write down all your expenses, choices, and costs. 2. Determine the percentage you live on. Most people in the U.S. live paycheck to paycheck regardless of their income level. 3. Establish percentage giving. Transition to thinking of generosity in terms of its proper portion of the total finances God has given you to work with. God has a simple plan for our finances. But 'simple' does not mean 'easy' when dealing with something that leads our hearts! However, just like everything from God, doing it His way gives more peace and power than anything the world has to offer! "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it." Malachi 3:10 |
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